Hellmouth Series: Saving Face
by Buffkin
Summary: Stuck in the Demon Coalition Board Semi-Annual Bloodring Tournament, Gene and Ky battle to find the truth about Lock's death as Lock fights to make sure his alleged death isnt as exaggerated as he believes.
1. Default Chapter

Hellmouth #5  
"Saving Face, Part 1"  
  
In the Atrium complex in downtown Cleveland, you'll find that the top six floors are owned by a very infamous law firm, known as the Cleveland Chapter of Wolfram and Hart. They don't nearly have the power that certain other divisions have, but they provide services to those who may be. affected. by the Cleveland Hellmouth. At this very moment, however, it is playing host to six gentlemen sitting at a rectangular table, two at each side and one at each head. The conference room holds no windows for. distinct. reasons. One man, and he is, in fact, human, begins the meeting of the six in question. "Okay folks, thanks for meeting with us tonight. I know this was rather short notice but we have a few things we have to work through for the moment and we'll try to get out of here as fast as we can," Jacob Manning has always been rather jovial in terms of running these meetings, normally walking a tight rope in making sure that all parties are taken care of properly.  
"Why the hell do we have to meet here anyways?" asked Brother, an awkward looking gentleman sitting on one of the four side spots on the table.  
"Well, Mr. Brother, Wolfram and Hart is one of the few places that caters to our. present company," Manning replied. He looked from side to side and knew he had placed his words correctly, especially since his present company happened to be four vampires and a very large Aerimaligantic demon.  
"Brother's right, man," Marquez began, annoyed at his surroundings, "I mean, this Cleveland subchapter crap aint cuttin it."  
"Indeed. Doesn't Wolfram and Hart realize that this is the new Hellmouth?" Brother exclaimed.  
"Sunnydale didn't have a Wolfram and Hart chapter either, idiot." an annoyed Yossarian drawled.  
"Yeah, but at least L.A. does, so that's close enough," Marquez defended.  
"Let's not even bring up L.A., friends. Did you hear that it's being run by a vampire now?" Manning had a hint of disgust in his voice.  
"Bout damn time!" Marquez announced, ready to jump the human for even alluding to the fact that vampires may not be good at running the firm.  
"No, it's a vampire with a soul." All six cringed, disturbed by the simple idea of it.  
"Absolutely repulsive." Yossarian broke the silence.  
"We'll meet somewhere else next time, all agreed?" It was unanimous. Manning continued, " Okay, well, first order of business, I would like to personally congratulate Yossarian of the North for his assistance in reducing the over-crowded prison up there. I have gotten word back from my contacts with the mayor that the prison met regulation, everything has been covered up successfully, and he wont have to raise taxes next quarter to cover the cost of extending on to the prison."  
"No, thank you, Mr. Manning, we made a good meal out of it and the Kriegal demons were more than happy to dispose of the corpses for us," Yossarian remained cordial, but never once adding emotion to his speech at all.  
"Yes. The problem we have now is that we are having a similar problem at the First Methodist Orphanage. We have too many kids coming in and because they aren't infants, many families wont pick them up. Neither myself nor my contacts with the mayor or the governor want them to grow out of the orphanage and clutter up the streets. Some proper and low-key disposal is in great need," Manning continued delegating.  
In a large growling tone, Wyvern, the Aerimaligantic head of N.C.M.S.D. (National Coalition of Multifarious and Sophisticated Demons) stood his large, gray frame fully upright, stretched his arms and large, gargoyle-esque wings, and sat back down, his specie's method of calling attention to oneself. "Need I remind you all that the Coalition treaty of 99 specifies that we are allowed one grand, annual feast on humans, and considering that younger human flesh is more tender, I offer suggestions that this be the feast in question," the creature boomed.  
"Indeed, that sounds good. Brother of the East, since the orphanage is in your quadrant, he will need your assistance in leading the children out of there. I don't necessarily care how you do it, just make sure that it's out of the news and that everything is cost efficient, okay?" Brother nodded.  
"Excellent. Moving right along; Fabini of the West, congratulations on a hard fought but well done defense of the southwest slums by that Truluk demon. Any word on how it came back from extinction?"  
Fabini, sitting next to Brother on the side of the table, leaned forward in his chair and, seemingly exhausted, clasped his hands together firmly. "Yes, it was a vampire named Docket who completed the rising ceremony."  
"Docket? He was one of yours, correct?" Manning inquired.  
"Did the Hunters take that weight off your shoulders too, Fabini?" Yossarian finally showed emotion in the form of a smile while Brother and Marquez laughed almost out loud. Fabini returned a dreadful look to his Northern equal, and looked back at the human representative: "Yes, Docket was one of mine but he has been taken care of. He is no longer a problem."  
"Was there any great losses in that battle?" Manning asked in a purely business-like manner. The smile returned to Yossarian's face as he leaned in for the reply. "Yes.," Fabini's speech slowed, ". the demon and her army were able to slay a few of my men."  
"How many?" Manning was not intentionally pressing the issue.  
"Six."  
"Six? My initial reports state that there were seven casualties."  
"Yes, well, a seventh was slain by the new leader of the Hunters." Fabini lowered both his head and his voice on the last reply, not even attempting eye contact with Yossarian, who opted to intercede on his own account: "You mean to tell me after fighting side by side your beloved compatriots, they added another to your losses? And you did nothing?" Yossarian was practically in tears by this time, as was his fellow board members.  
"WHAT THE HELL KINDA CHOICE DID I HAVE?! THOSE WERE THE SOUTH-WEST SLUMS AND MARQUEZ DIDN'T EVEN ATTEMPT TO BACK ME UP!!!" Fabini was furious. He settled back into his chair and straightened his near-perfect suit.  
"What was I gonna do? Jump in with the Hunters? Look, I had your back-up until you tried to do what you always do. You are the only one of us that tries to make a public face with the Hunters, and they treat you like slave-owners. I prefer to bite, kill, and maim whatever the hell I choose and I cant think of one reason I would wanna spend my time treading water so that I don't get jumped by a bunch of kids with knives and splinters." Marquez straightened himself similarly and settled into his leather chair.  
"Yeah, man, plus you tend to tell them that all our territories are yours just to boost yourself up to them. It's pretty repulsive." Brother included. They aren't just kids. These kids are trained. Some of them have been doing this stuff for years and have intense knowledge on how to kill anything that isn't human, and I'm looking out for us by trying to keep them off of us."  
"Still," Wyvern boomed, " One cannot survive on merely self- deprecation."  
"See? Even Wings here agrees," Yossarian mocked, "And I think it's time we re-think you as the Western rep."  
"Calm down, men," Manning stated, " We can discuss possible replacement at the next meeting. We have to get down to discussing arrangements for our bi-annual blood festival as well as representative entries. Fabini, are we to expect Mickey this year?"  
"Not on my ticket. He'll be running as an independent. Returning champions can still enter at any point before the finale, correct?"  
"Christ! You fall short on your Hunters deal and now you're taking Mickey off your ticket? You know, Manning, I know a vamp moving here out of Jersey who would make an excellent Western head." Yossarian continued the taunting.  
"That will be enough, Yossarian. Yes, returning champions are free to defend at any time, especially one of Mickey's caliber. I shouldn't need to remind you how much this festival means to your chances of staying with us."  
"Well aware, thanks. I'm just gonna need two open slots on my ticket to fit in what I have to prove. You all can ridicule as much as you like, but when this thing is over, the Hunters will be disbanded and I'll have them working for me." The board room stopped laughing.  
Ten minutes before sunset, a group of young men and women sneak through a rare open field in the far western outskirts of Cleveland. The sun creeps beneath the treeline and everything becomes silent. The wind blows and cools the land, creating a noise not even as soft as the noise from the scurrying underneath the tall grass.  
Near the center of the field, two young men prep themselves and talk jubilantly. "This is going to be great! I love these exercises!" Gene said.  
"I'm glad you're happy," Lock groaned, obviously less jubilant, "because we are about to be jumped by people who know they can take us."  
"They don't know jack. They may think they can beat us, but you don't learn from anything but experience, and you and I got that in spades."  
"We may have been doing this longer, yes, but they have pointy weapons and crossbows."  
"And we have Kevlar vests on. Why do you always do this?"  
"Do what?"  
"Start whining every time we do this?"  
"Same reason I vomit before every hunt. I talk big and fight big, but I've got nerves of cardboard."  
"Well you better have balls of steel because these kids wanna take a piece outta the boss and prove something."  
"What are they gonna prove? That my skin breaks?"  
"That they can one-up you. That's all life is about my friend: Provin that you're better than the guy next to you."  
"That's such an awful way to think."  
"Yeah, well its effective. Then again, there aint no way you can take me and you still happen to make boss."  
"What the hell does that mean? I made boss because I'm logical and don't think with whatever body part you use to carry your pride around!"  
"Well, considering how large my ego is, I think we all know the answer to that question."  
"Anyways."  
"Yeah, anyways. One day, Lock, you and me, buddy. We gonna throw down. We'll see." Lock laughs and Gene smiles. They continue tightening and fitting their Kevlar vests.  
Minutes have passed. The darkness is now coming through and the lasts signs of the sun are making their signs known before they depart through the trees and under the hills. The scurrying had stopped for a few moments and then became a full blown dash. Several of them, in fact. The grass parts as what seems to be a black blur blitzes through the brush.  
"Okay Nick, m'boy," Lock began, "you tucked in tight enough?"  
Nicholas leered at Lock from the chair he was tied to with a look that spoke volumes, most of which is quite unprintable, "Why do I have to be the bait?"  
"Initiation, baby," Gene joked, "Then again, I did read this one magazine about a fraternity in Arkansas that had the most messed up hazing rituals. Funny, though, their people were tied to chairs too." Gene's famous evil smile formed on his face as Nick's eyes grew wider.  
"Shaddup, Gene." Lock laughed, "that's for later. For now, we need someone to play victim so they have something to tell whether or not they were too fast or too slow in saving you."  
"So you two play ass-kickin vamps and I play the guy who's supposed to get bit?"  
"Bitten," Gene laughed.  
"If they do their jobs correctly, then you wont get bit or bitten."  
"Waitaminute," Nick began to worry, "their supposed to find you in a twenty-five mile wide field?"  
"Well, technically, their supposed to find you. Don't worry, we wont bite hard and everything will go so quick." Gene was now merely amusing himself.  
Lock noticed the sun completely set: "Don't worry, Nick. Gene chose the strike point this time, so we'll all be quiet and they'll find us in about."  
Talking ceased. Fighting began. Fire was lit in a circle behind and around the two "vampires" and Lock was impressed that he hadn't even noticed his regulars, donning black, circling the area with gasoline. Jamie jumped in and delivered a strong punch but missed by a hair, effectively causing Lock to take a few steps back. Lock and Jamie shared a few punches while Antoine went directly in for Nicholas. Gene stepped in and cracked Antoine in the face with his elbow, doing his best impersonation of a vampire snarl and face. Antoine chuckled despite the pain in his jaw, leaving Gene in a position to take advantage of his lack of concentration. Mark stepped in and began defending Antoine with punches and side kicks, causing Gene to somersault away from his post. Lock was still having his hands full with Jamie. True, he thought, Jamie was just a TV and movie martial artist, but the man has trained for years and definitely knows what he is doing here. They jumped back and forth until Lock notice that of the eight normal regulars, minus Nicholas, only three were openly fighting them. Lock turned and caught Jamie with a lucky knee to the sternum, causing the fighter to tumble to the ground. Lock looked around, wondering exactly what is going on when four regulars popped out of their hiding places in the tall grass, crossbows extended. Gene fought back towards Nicholas, rampaging and flowing through both Antoine and Mark. They were both taken aback by how efficiently Gene was able to block every shot they took and return fire with his own series of gut shots and sweep kicks. The battle between them all looked poetic and choreographed, though Mark felt full well the effects of blows he didn't see coming.  
Lock flipped several times through the air and sprinted away from the crossbow bolts. He thanked God for Kevlar as one bolt struck him in the side, but never reached his skin. Lock fell to the ground in mock-pain, knowing that he had to react like a vampire would if it was struck in the side. He reeled for a second put reached his feet and took haste, never allowing the four a chance to reload the bows and bring a second round off. Lock jumped directly in between them; some chose to actually attempt to reload, leaving them open for a swift beating, while the other, more experienced Hunters knew that the bows were a lost cause in close combat and dropped their weapons. They fought back rather efficiently, even though Lock was still trained well enough to keep the two downed Hunters unconscious while at the same time battling well against his other two adversaries. Gene looked on with admiration as he attempted to draw his battle against Antoine and Mark closer to Lock, hopefully allowing the two psuedo-vampires a chance to work together. Antoine saw this strategy a mile away and left Mark to himself while he attempted to free Nicholas. Gene panicked and hurried to his "hostage" cutting off Antoine as he was trying to untie his teammate. They began to knock each other back and forth until Mark joined in, at which time Gene began to realize that fighting the two of them was exhausting him. His eyes caught Lock's as Lock was fighting odds that were completely stacked against him. Lock jumped and weaved, attempting to fight off the two in front of him while also seeing Jamie raise from his quick nap. Lock closed his eyes for a moment, trying to catch his breath, and his eyes flashed open with new vigor.  
Unfortunately for Lock, however, his newfound vigorous eyes also caught sight of twelve bright, pulsating flood lights that were apparently set up around them. Jamie did say he had a surprise for me tonight, Lock thought, noticing he could now longer see anything but shadows and silhouettes. Lock turned blindly around only to catch a bottle to the face and a "stake through the heart." Gene was exhausted. Mark and Antoine both have been around almost as long as he had, and they were both trained by him and knew all of his demeanors. Some exercise, Gene thought, none of these kids are learning a thing because they wouldn't know exactly how some random vampire fights and they know me up and down. Gene knew he had to end this immediately or else he was going to pass out. He simultaneously swept his leg across the ground at a very low angle, catching both Antoine and Mark by surprise. As they dropped to the ground, Gene was already on his feet and behind Nicholas, who was absolutely entranced with how cool they all looked fighting like this. His eyes grew wide as Gene erupted into a loud mock-vampire growl, exposing his very flat, human teeth, and went in for the neck bite. As Gene was going in for the "kill," he caught eye of Lock being smacked in the face with a holy water glass, keeling over and getting a stake to his Kevlar. This sight, though vulgar in every sense of the word, was absolutely beyond hilarious to Gene. He stopped before his game winning bite and burst into tears laughing. Lock rolled around on the ground, making sure the glass didn't crack his skull or leave shards of glass in it, and Gene put his head on Nick's shoulder laughing and crying at the same time, only blandly noticing Antoine lightly rubbing the tip of the wooden stake on the heart section of his Kevlar vest. Gene raised his hands in defeat and, after a few moments of sadistic laughter, made it to his feet and helped Lock up off the ground. "What in the hell was that all about?!" Lock screamed.  
"You're supposed to be the vampire, right? And vampires burn to the touch of holy water, right? So I hit you with holy water." Jamie defended himself.  
"Yeah, but vampires cant live without heads but you know well enough not to decapitate me, right?" This was Lock trying to calm himself.  
"I don't see what the problem is. You say we can fire crossbow bolts at you and try to kick, punch, and stake you, as long as we don't do anything that might actually kill you. So what's wrong with holy water, as long as it kills vampires and not you, right?"  
"He has a point, Lock," Gene said, tears of laughter subsiding, "Plus he brings out the actor in you man! I mean, you played the pain so genuine that I woulda sworn you were really hurt."  
"Fine, everybody, twenty years from now when I finally say its okay to have this exercises again, you can no longer kill OR maim us, got it?" Lock brought them all in to give his famous critiques for the evening when Gene whispered over to him: "Lock, dude, where we expecting company tonight?"  
The team of regulars looked forward out into the field and noticed a truck burrowing through the tall grass towards them. The team stood stoic until they realized that at the speed and angle the truck was headed, there was no way that it was going to stop. They broke in the middle and jumped to either side trying to move out of the way of the speeding vehicle. The truck stopped about twenty-five yards from the group, now reassembled. Out of the back could be seen a huge cage and about three vampires who jumped out and opened the cage. The beasts that flew out of it were ones that not even Lock or Gene had seen before, but both knew far too well they were: werewolves.  
"Christ, Lock, we aint prepped for wolves now. Whatta we doin?" There was no trace of humor left in Gene's voice.  
"Everybody, spread and take cover! DO NOT KILL them. You hear me?! These arent demons. They are infected humans. They cant help this right now. Antoine?" Lock turned to Antoine, who had already gotten the two shotguns, pre-loaded with tranquilizer darts out and into the hands of Lock and Gene. The pecking order in the groups is both simple and already decided. While Gene is the second in command for the entire group, he is the leader of the Axe Units and his Abbit Twins are the second in command for those same Axe Units. And while he has the Abbits, Lock has appointed Antoine as the second in command of the regulars, so he and Lock know each other back, forth, and sideways, as well as the types of weaponry that he keeps in the Regular Unit van. Gene shook his head in shame of how well trained Lock keeps his units and cocked his shotgun. This battle though chaotic, was rather short, as was intended by both sides. The werewolves attacked hard and fast on everyone, despite the fact that they were only four in number. Gene was able to tranq two and Lock picked off one, but while instructing everyone to focus on the vampires from the truck, Lock was struck down by the remaining werewolf. Nicholas ran in and grabbed Lock's shotgun and pelted the last wolf, rolling him over and off of Lock. Nicholas quickly asked if Lock was okay, and the captain grunted his pleasantries. Lock stumbled forward and caught his balance, just in time to witness three more vamps crawl out of the cab of the truck. Lock turned behind him to see if anyone else might have been injured in the attack, only to be hit by a second truck. He flew several feet and landed hard, severely injured and completely unconscious. Two vamps made their way out of the second cab and picked up Lock, carrying him over to their truck and pulling off.  
Gene sprinted after the second, now moving truck and pulled out his trusty wood-tipped bullet sawed-off and pelted two shots, one shattering the back window and the other denting the backside. The battle was drawing to a close when the final vampire, coincidentally the original driver of the first truck began a last ditch sprint back to his vehicle. Gene sprinted forward just fast enough to take a firm, hard step, reload his sawed-off, and stick one well-placed wooden-tipped bullet through the back and heart of the vampiric sprinter.  
Gene stood still for a moment, taking it all in. Three regulars, including Jamie, were severely injured and needed medical help. They never trained for freakin werewolves before, Gene thought, Hell! We never even had a werewolf around here that I've ever seen. Gene started to panic. His first thought was to ask Lock what to do, but that was the problem! He rushed over to the vampire's truck and looked inside. He pushed through all the junk, including a dead woman in the passenger side that they were apparently feeding on before they came there. Underneath the corpse was a work order, apparently the work order for the "shipment" they just delivered. Nicholas and Antoine slowly walked up to Gene, who was drastically distraught and shaking from everything. Gene stopped reading and grabbed the keys out of the trucks ignition, throwing them to Antoine.  
"Antoine, get anyone who needs help to the hospital. I don't think Larson's patch jobs are gonna work for some of them. Make up something to tell the doctor. Backyard wrestling or something," Gene shook harder now that he was making things up on the spot.  
"Gotcha, boss," Antoine replied, noticing a twitch at the sound of the word.  
"What's that paper?" Nick asked.  
"Work order. Said that these things were shipped here from . lets see. the W.C.H.S. the Western Cleveland Holding Supplier. The name on the shipment is Yo. Yoss. Yossarian? Yossarian of the North? Ah hell, gimmie your cell phone." Gene grabbed Nick's cell-phone and dialed back to the station house.  
"Station house. Jules speaking."  
"Jules, this is Gene. Listen closely and do everything I'm about to tell you."  
"Is everything alright Gene?"  
"Listen up! Get Larson down to the Baptist hospital. We have a few men on their way there now. Get the Abbits to organize the Axe Units down here to clean-up some werewolves down here. I want them caged until Sunday's over, cuz that's the last day that the full moon'll be out. And contact Ky and tell her to meet me at the station. We're going hunting tonight."  
Hours pass. Lock wakes up and feels his head, still throbbing. He tries to remember, but cant. He remembers the exercises. He remembers the first truck. Oh yeah, he thinks. And the pain comes rushing back. His body cringes and aches all over, and he can barely remember his name through the maelstrom of emotions contacting every point in his body. The light of the full moon shines through the blinds of the window. He scrapes at the cracking substance on his forehead. Dried blood, he realizes. Practically covering his face. He tries to stand but his arms are weak and he cant really feel his legs through the pain. He groans and cries out, managing to turn his body around, trying to catch a look at where exactly he was. It looked like a wood cabin of sorts. The front door was right behind him, but he saw that it had been bolted shut from the outside. There were two windows in the cabin, but too small to fit a human or otherwise out of. The corner he was facing now had no windows. Just shadows. Lock could hear something in that corner though. Not breathing, per say, but something else entirely. More like a shuffling of sorts. Lock was appalled at the scenery of the cabin. It had posters of pop icons and large teddy bears of different sizes and colors. There was a small TV, old it seemed, and very much busted. There was an old radio in the window sill that was playing low-tone, elevator-music renditions of some popular modern day songs. And something was there, in the corner. Lock knew it. Something was in that corner and Lock felt its eyes all over him. Lock thought and thought, and could only come up with one solution; he thought of the one thing that anyone, Hunter, civilian, or horror-movie actress would do in this situation: "Hello?"  
"Hi," came the reply from deep in the shadows in a voice that was deep and musky like a grown man's but held a sense of bewilderment like that of a child, "My name's Mickey." 


	2. Hellmouth Series: Saving Face, Part 2

Hellmouth #6  
"Saving Face, Part 2"  
  
A few mores hours pass and the light appears ready to break across the treeline for a beautiful sunrise for a beautiful day. The sky above the cityscape still remains dark though, as the sun has yet to cross the building line. In the Western sector of that cityscape lies a building, right as the major buildings of downtown Cleveland start becoming more sporadic and a few more self-contained gas stations and storage facilities begin popping up. The sign of this building is of a wooden frame, strange for the city-type atmosphere, with the acronym W.C.H.S. carved into the wood. The sign hangs above the door. Above the sign is a large, semi- circular framed window. Inside that window, one can find a group of gentlemen in suits with cigars. The suits are messy, as if they are all relaxing, except for one gentleman whose suit remains perfect despite his leisurely setting. The poker cards fly across the table back and forth, as does money and several large groans. Everything is right in the world, it seems, except for when the window, which is above the sign, which is above the door, implodes inside the building. The men scatter as the glass shards spread dust and fragments everywhere. One piece of glass is actually large enough that, upon impact, split's the table in two. At that very moment, chaos is the only solidified factor in everybody's minds except for one, which happens to be the fully armed, athletically built black man flying through the now open window.  
Gene hits the ground and immediately swipes at the necks of the two guards at the door with his custom axe. The two guards turn to dust as Gene pulls out his custom sawed-off and patches two shots into the hearts of Fabini's poker buddies, who turn to dust as well. Instinctively, Gene pulls out his cross and reloads his custom wooden bullets and charges at Fabini, pushing him down and holding him against a broken shard of what used to be their poker table with the cross. Fabini snarls and exposes his vampiric face, wondering how the hell one Hunter could disassemble this many vamps in less than ten seconds. Gene looks at him carefully with a stare too serious for the normally jovial man he is.  
"I'm glad you're here, because I didn't want to kill off some leader I didn't recognize and end up questioning some flunkie." Gene began.  
"I must say, that certainly was amazing! How did you get that fire and implosion effect at the window there?" Fabini immediately regretted the question when Ky magically unlocked the front door by taking it completely off its hinges.  
"What is this place?" Gene demanded.  
"Whadaya mean?" Fabini played dumb.  
"Okay, quick synopsis of everything we ALREADY know: We got ambushed while training. Lock got captured. We found a source leading us here to some guy named 'Yossarian of the North'. So we came here, and you're here. Unless you got something for me your heart's gonna be tastin oak."  
"Okay! Slow down!" Fabini screamed, showing legitimate fear, "Okay, I own this place. Lock isn't here. I have nothing to do with this. And Yossarian is a guy I do business with. good enough?"  
"Yeah! Where is he and is this stake gonna be big enough for him?" Gene asked with a devilish smile.  
"Lets start with some details," Ky chimed in, "How bout you tell us where we're at?"  
"Here? This is my West Cleveland Holding Supplier. We are kind of a mock-storage facility most of the time, but on special nights, like tonight, we're a housing company for werewolves."  
"Like the ones that tore up my friends?" Gene almost staked the vampire there.  
"Of course not. You see, three nights a month, the moon appears full, and that kind of full celestial force causes some people t."  
"We know what werewolves are, Fabini," Ky stopped him, "We just want to know why you're storing them and why they attacked us earlier."  
"If you know them so well then you'll know that they aren't demons. These are people who legitimately don't want to hurt anyone, and for a small price, I ensure that they can be kept closed up confidentially and be taken care of."  
"Small price?" Ky seemed ashamed.  
"What the hell do you want from me? I'm not a human nor am I am human lover, but I am a capitalist. Plus, it's the discretion that brings the price tag. I mean, the mayor before the current one was a werewolf before he was killed by a swarm of vamps. But I assure you, we have the tightest security around here during these few nights, and nobody is out of their cage."  
"Why don't you let us take a look at the stacks, huh?" Gene demanded of the vamp, who he pushed around towards the back. Fabini led them down a series of short corridors and into a vast room filled with at least a hundred cages, all of them seemingly full. Fabini took the two Hunters, who were receiving odd stares from everybody, to one vampire in the far corner with a lab coat on. "McKivergan," Fabini started at the vamped-out doctor, "These cages are fully stocked, right?"  
"Yessir," The vamp proclaimed, "have been appointment only for the past six months." Ky looked around in the enormous room and saw that each cage was set on many levels so that the people inside had no problem exiting the next morning when the werewolf side wore off and the cages reopened. She saw that each cage had its own curtain in front of it, blocking outsiders from seeing inside as well as keeping Ky and Gene from seeing if the cages may have been empty. Ky began chanting something in Latin. Gene looked over, not listening to Fabini trying to explain the ethics of why this storage facility deserves such high prices. Gene asks her if anything is wrong, and her hand shot up, Ky subtly telling him to shut up.  
"Do you feel a draft in here?" Fabini began to ask when Ky's words became louder and she erupted into the final catalyst of her incantation, summoning a powerful wind, coming through and blowing every curtain in the place open. Fabini went nuts, something about breechings of contracts, and several of the vampiric work crew sprinted around to shut all the curtains.  
"There," she spoke calmly, walking towards where she was pointing, "There were three werewolves in the attack. There are three empty cages right there."  
"What?" Fabini looked puzzled. He grabbed the cage roster from off McKivergan's desk and began examining it closely, "Malseed, Nixon, and Hoopes. Why are they not in their cages? McKivergan, you said these cages were full. Were you lying in front of my guests?"  
"Of course not, Fabini sir. They should still be in their cages, sir."  
"Wait. gimmie the shipping receipts." Fabini said, mysteriously. He flipped through the yellow pages of the clipboard of receipts, running numbers through his head like he's done for the hundred and twenty-two years he's been.well.. dead. "Son of a bitch," Fabini whispered under his breath, "Yossarian got me on that one.."  
"What's that supposed to mean?" a concerned Ky interjected.  
"These three werewolves were snuck out of here by Yossarian. Apparently he had a shipping crew come in and carry them out. The only reason I didn't catch it is because he actually documented everything correctly. The bastard knew my weakness for status quo."  
"Where is he at?" Gene had enough questioning.  
"You're not gonna find Yossarian anywhere right now.. He doesn't get found, if you catch my drift. Tell ya what, though: If you guys are serious about finding out whether Lock is still alive or not, I know a way that can be beneficial to all of us," Fabini reached in his jacket's pocket and pulled out a card. He scribbled a few things on the card and handed it to Gene, " Well, Gene, I suppose you're callin the shots now that you're stubborn superior aint around, so its your call. You and he need to come down to that location and meet me outside at midnight tonight. You'll find a limo two blocks down from this location. It's mine. Hop inside and I'll take you the rest of the way there. I guarantee that Yossarian will be there and if he's keeping Lock for something and hasn't already killed him, then I'll bet he'll be there too."  
Fabini turned and began walking away from them until Gene shouted out, "Wait one damn second now! Why the hell would you think we'd .." Fabini turned, vampire face showing once again: "I trust you two know your way out considering your dazzling entrance. I will see you both tonight, a little before sunset, ALONE.." He turned back to his normal, Italian face and began walking away again, "and fellas? Stay limber.."  
Through the closed blinds, Lock can see the light of the sun peeking through. The creature hasn't moved for hours since he boldly introduced himself. Lock and he have kept eye contact the whole time without fail, leaving little time for Lock to do any sort of manual nursing of his wounds. As the sunrise hit and the cabin lit up, the room grew less creepy but the creature became more and more frightening. "Mickey", as he called himself, towered Lock by at least a foot and a half. He wore a crude t- shirt, black, shredded on all edges, and form-fitting as if it were a few sizes too small for his large, muscular frame. Lock almost felt the urge to chuckle at the ironic phrase on the vampire's shirt ("bite me") but he shook off the Gene-esque moment and continued his deep staring contest. Even through the vampire face he was wearing, Lock could see deep rooted scars that would be more apparent if not for the vampire's messy hair, long enough just to cover his face. Lock had never encountered such an enigmatic vampire before; Mickey's back and stance were crooked and hunched over, a seemingly sinister pouncing position, but his face and demeanor was as benign as a scared child's. The strangest thing about the vampire that Lock could notice is it's strange fascination with a withered, torn up teddy bear that swung from its shockingly sharpened fingers.  
"You're not as playful as my other meals.." Mickey began. Lock remained quiet, slowly stretching his limbs to make sure he could move if the beast makes an attempt at him. "Are you frightened?" Lock still kept quiet, but his breathing began to increase and his body clenched tight. The two remained dead-locked in another deep stare until he broke the silence. "SHUT UP, CUDDLES!!!!" he screamed, chucking his bear against the walls. His body twitches a little as he stared at the motionless bear. Lock snapped the leg off of one of the wooden chairs in the room, picking up his make-shift stake. Mickey slowly turned his neck to where he could cock his head around and flash a smile at Lock: "Cuddles.. He can be so impatient at times..he wanted me to start the feast."  
"He doesn't realize how demanding he can be sometimes," the vampire began, "especially when he uses that tone.. What's you name?"  
"Locklear," the answer came in a low whisper.  
"Are you lonely, Locklear?"  
"No.. I have friends. A girlfriend."  
"What's.. that like?"  
"What?"  
"To have someone to care about? Someone who cares about you?"  
"..um.. It's good.."  
"I'm lonely, Locklear.."  
A moment of silence passed and as Lock's face grew somber at the vampire's life assessment, Mickey's face never changed from it's original seriousness. "That's why I'm not feasting yet. Cuddles doesn't have to eat, and that's why he doesn't understand."  
"You'd might as well try to eat me because I am not going to be that great as company.." Lock stated firmly, his mood suddenly souring.  
"You're better than Cuddles!" Mickey snapped quickly, "He can be so overbearing sometimes. Last week, he told me to go outside in the daytime. THE DAYTIME! Can you believe that?" Lock snapped and sprinted over to the vampire. He got two quick shots in on the monster's face before Mickey knew what was going on. The third shot was dodged and the fourth and fifth were blocked, reversing the sixth punch into a palm shot to the middle of Lock's chest. Lock felt all the oxygen in him leave and he felt lighter than ever before, flying through the air and through the old wooden table that he grabbed the chair from.  
"That was not nice." Lock turned onto his side and coughed out a chunk of blood that spurted along the floor. Mickey walked over and stood tall, dwarfing the broken hunter. "You shouldn't attack someone when they are talking to you. I am only trying to be a good host."  
"I'm not your guest, asshole. I'm your captive.." Lock stuttered in saying it, choking back the urge to vomit.  
Mickey grabbed him by the skin on the back of his neck like a cat and hefted him up, causing Lock to squeal in agony, "Why are you being so mean? I only mean to talk with you. You have hours more before I feast.." Lock's bloodshot eyes showed a glint of worry, and Mickey let him down. Lock fell to his knees and started gasping, hoping that the air would return to him sooner or later. In a raspy voice, he asked, "What do you want to talk about?"  
"Is your girlfriend pretty?"  
"Um.. Yeah.."  
"Do you love her?"  
"Well, we've only been dating for three months now, so I don't know if it's strong enough to call it love yet."  
"Why don't you?"  
"I dunno. I don't know her well enough to feel that way."  
"She's there, isn't she? Does she feel for you?"  
"Too much. At least it seems so."  
"Do you think she'll mourn for you?"  
Lock's body stiffened, but he played along: "Probably. I think a lot of people will miss me."  
"Why?"  
"Why? What do you mean, why? I have friends. I have a girlfriend who loves me. I have people that need me and my friends to protect them."  
"Protect them from what?"  
"From YOU! You and your kind. Vampires, demons; they hunt us down and kill us. Without us, you evil things will crush us all!"  
"What makes you think that we are evil? We are different. Many of us have been tortured in our dimensions for a very long time. Cuddles always reminds me of what I have suffered.. Even my human side, before the demon came and cleansed me. He made me not dirty anymore. He made me pure again. We are not evil; we are just ..real. We were raised as animals and we live like animals. We take what we need to live. You shepherd in herds of animals for mass slaughter and you think they deserve it more than the animals we slaughter?"  
"Listen here, 'Mickey,' I'm not here to talk about the philosophy of murder with you or your stuffed bear! I've seen way too many vampires kill for the sake of killing, or torture their victims before killing them. You really think you're going to put a humane case on murdering my friends and family, or that I might actually sit here and believe a word that comes from some whacked-out, hallucinating, crack-headed loony bloodsucker, then.."  
With that, Mickey uppercutted Lock clear across the room and into the wall. Lock hit hard and fell to the ground on his hands and knees. He got up and looked into the eyes of the fuming vampire, who spoke: "I don't much like talking to you anymore, Locklear.." The vampire charged and Locklear dove out of the way. The vampire slid across the floor and landed next to his fallen bear, who he picked up and flung at Lock screaming "GET 'IM, CUDDLES!" Lock stared at the bear as it flew low at his leg thinking, What kind of damage can a teddy bear do? He got his answer when the bear hit his thigh, which the impact sprang forward a three inch lock-blade that slid right into the meaty part of Lock's left thigh. The hunter screamed and hit the ground in intense pain, mumbling and cursing to hold back the tears as he extracted the blade with his trembling hands. The vampire sprinted forward and began beating Lock, over and over and over again in the head and chest until the hunter began coughing up seemingly liters of blood. Lock tried with very little success to peel the monsters hands from him, and Mickey reacted by grabbing the leader by the throat and tossing him clear across the room, again hitting the wall. Lock surprised himself with how quickly adrenaline was able to make him get back up, but this surprise was followed by a greater surprise, as the quickness of the vampire led him to pick up Lock again by the neck and again tossing him towards the opposing wall; this time, Lock's body went limp and the wall caved, filling the side of the room closest to the wall with sunshine and Lock's body lay unconscious on the dirty ground outside of the cabin, inches away from the broken wall. Mickey squinted at the sudden brightness of the room and settled himself. He walked right up to the line that separated the shadowed floor with the sunlit floor and knelt, his eyes locked onto the unconscious hunter. "About five hours until sunset. Then I will feed." he spoke, Lock not hearing a word of it as his body lay completely still in the open sunlight several feet outside the cabin as Mickey remained patiently perched and constantly aware.  
Five minutes until sunset completely covers the Cleveland area, and Fabini sprints out of the limousine that carried himself and the two hunters to a High School Stadium right on the outskirts of town. From the outside, the stadium appeared completely empty with only two cloaked men standing out front, waving their arms around and waving smoking lanterns. Gene and Ky stepped out of the limo and began walking closer to the cloaked men as a semi-smoking Fabini sprinted past them and, upon moving between the two cloaked men, disappeared. Gene and Ky looked at one another strangely: "Invisibility field?" Gene asked.  
"Probably with a UV shield too. Seems pretty powerful," Ky replied.  
"More powerful than you?" Gene asked.  
"No. These guys are more like monks or shamans. Their power is probably concentrated on a certain field. Like these guys are probably focused on cloaking abilities, but they probably couldn't do a glamour to save their lives. I'm a witch. I concentrate on a general field of things. So they can make a stronger cloak than I can by leaps and bounds, but they cant do half the things I can do. I'm like the liberal arts major trying to build a building next to an engineering major."  
"Gotcha. So what do you think we're gonna find in there?"  
"I don't know. I don't do field work without a team, and I don't think the two of us qualify as a team."  
"Whatever. All I know is that we can handle it. I know you're a lot more powerful than you give yourself credit for, and I know what kind of damage I can do. Just don't hold back and trust me, okay?"  
"Trust you?"  
"Trust me." He gave her a deep look that alleviated some of the fear in her heart and strangely gave her a sense of relief, knowing that no matter what was waiting for them inside that stadium, they were going to be alright.  
They walked slowly between the two cloaked men and felt a strange feeling, like gravity doubling, that lasted for a second or two until they completely passed through the field and their eyes sprung wide and shaking. What appeared to be an empty stadium was actually a stadium filled with beings of different species and definitely different appearances, both large and small. They were all chanting like a crowd at a football game, staring at the center in wild anticipation where a caged, circular ring sat for all to see. Once they caught each other's eyes, Gene and Ky realized that they had both stopped breathing and inhaled, a scent that smelled of sweat and metal grinding. They stopped Fabini almost simultaneously as he was starting a conversation with a demon who had an unusual amount of bodily secretions. "What the hell is all this about?" Gene asked, furious.  
"This is how we are gonna get Lock back, assuming he's still alive," Fabini said casually, excusing the harsh interruption by his guest.  
"How is this gonna go down, Fabini?" Ky asked.  
"Okay, I've seen you all fight, and of you're group you two are the best fighters. This is a blood tournament. The winner will get a mysterious prize and it will be presented to him by the board." Fabini walked the two Hunters over towards the center ring and pointed out a small section up in the open box seats and continued, "See the guy up there? He's second on the right.. That's Yossarian. He runs the Northern parts of Cleveland, thus you get Yossarian of the North. He apparently ordered the hit on Lock, and with the kind of protection he asks for, you wont be able to get to him without winning the tournament. What will happen is, you will win the tournament, we'll present you with the trophy, and you will come back with the four corner members of the board, not counting the demon host and the Chairman, where they'll toast to you and give you your prize, and you can strike back there where he'll have no protection."  
"This is your plan?" Ky asked, exasperated and disillusioned.  
"What if we lose?" Gene asked, provoking an astonished look by Ky.  
"This is a blood tournament," Fabini said, "so if you lose, you die, but if you can think of a better way to get past the hundred and so thousand in attendance and overthrow the protection he has up there, then go for it."  
"This is stupid and way too risky," Ky put her foot down.  
"How do we sign up?" Gene asked, ignoring the dropped foot.  
"Well, there are eight official fighters and possibly one independent, if last year's champion shows up to defend. There are four borders, and two representative fighters of each border. I am Fabini of the West, and you two will sign onto my ticket, so the second you agree, then you're already signed."  
"Gene, we cant do this. We cant even raid this place with all our units. This is too much. I love Lock just as much as you do, but there is no way we can do this," Ky spoke to his hurt, with little effect.  
"If you feel that you cant do it all for Lock, then go ahead. He's been my best friend for years now, and my leader for more than that. And until I see his head, I will not be convinced that he's dead, which means he's still our leader. I will fight for him and if nothing else, I'll kill that Yossarian bastard.. Fabini, I'm in."  
Fabini smiled and looked at Ky. She frowned and swiped her hair from in front of her eyes and swept the strands behind her ears. She looked down sobbingly, stalled, and then looked up, nodding her head to Fabini in agreement. Fabini's smile grew wider, "Excellent. Well then, you two better stretch out. Especially you, Gene. You're up first."  
"Well aint that a hoot and a holler," Ky groaned, "I get to actually see you die whereas I can only imagine what Lock's goin through."  
About thirty seconds before the sun stops shining over the hillsides where the forested cabin is at, Lock regained consciousness. He wiped his brow and again found only dried blood and more of it. He pulled himself to his feet and stumbled around, not necessarily sure that he was still planted on the ground. He gained back his balance and sense of equilibrium, but his memory was the last thing to fully hit him. He turned and saw the crumbled wall of the cabin and splintered woods thrust all about. He looked down and saw the same figure he woke up to the night before, dimly lit by the last remains of the sunlight. The beast had his hand held out to the outside of the cabin and let it sit there, smoking as if it were to burst into flames at any given moment. Lock was barely able to note the distance of about six feet between he and the monster when Mickey's hand stopped smoking and the sun had fallen under the hills. When it quit smoking completely, Mickey smiled and cocked his head to the side, catching Lock's eyes which were widened with more fear than the young man had ever possessed. Simultaneously, they both took off into the woods in a grand chase.. 


	3. Hellmouth Series: Saving Face, Part 3

Hellmouth #7  
"Saving Face, Part 3"  
  
Since the bell rang a few moments ago, the last few moments have been visually painful, especially in the area of Gene's jaw, and arms, and legs, and pretty much everywhere else on Gene's body. Vampires are on thing, but in this, the first round of the Demonic Coalition Board Semiannual Bloodring Tournament, demons of different natures are a completely blank area for Gene's usual preference. The demon whose been delivering the pain is a large, frog-like demon that Gene has overheard on the loudspeaker as being a Crommell demon. By frog-like, Gene has come to see this as meaning the powerful leaping legs the demon has to avoid direct hits and the monstrous tongue the demon uses to whip and grab at things. At first going with an all out offensive, a strategy that usually works for Gene, he has now resorted to running and doing cartwheels around the ring in various directions to avoid getting killed.  
"Man, this has gotten kinda boring," one of the weapon-masters said as the match certainly became a big frog chasing a scared human.  
"Hey, now, dis guys wonna dem huntas. Dey work wit weapons, so when we trows em out der, dings gone get much betta," the other weapon-master said, "We just gotsta wait fo da green light."  
The green light came and a buzzer sounded, and the two weapon-masters chose the weapons to drop. Gene had heard this in the rule ceremony and was very much hoping that a good weapon would kill this demon off quickly. The weapon-master for the Crommell demon threw down a huge, majestic looking axe, which Gene was in complete awe of. "Hey, what kind of weapon should I give this guy?" asked one weapon-master to the other. The other one thought and replied, "Give em dat ding! He a Hunta... He know howda use dat." Gene looked anxiously as the weapon master grabbed and threw down a long handled, wooden stake.  
"What the hell is this?" Gene asked, perplexed on how a stake is going to stand up against a giant axe. Gene kept his mouth closed while avoiding the big, swinging axe that would have shaved his head had he not been bald already. He avoided two swipes to both sides and kept moving, running from corner to corner in the ring. The demon grew tired of his running and went for the alternative method of his tongue lasso. The Crommell demon shot his tongue out and whipped Gene several times, the last shot wrapping around Gene's legs and dragging him towards the monster and his axe. Gene reached for safety but had no chance of escaping. He clutched hold of his superior stake and stabbed the beast's tongue, pinning it deep into the mat. The Crommell demon wailed and screamed around, dropping it's axe and clutching for its tongue. Gene dove towards the monster, whose pain kept it from even registering where its adversary was, allowing Gene to grab the giant blade, spin it around in his hand like a bat, and swing with one mighty thrust, taking the head off the Crommell. The crowd booed and Gene fell to the mat, taking in huge breaths, hoping that maybe he wouldn't die after he won the match, which he felt would be embarrassing. Ky crawled into the ring and helped him off as the chorus off boos pushed them off quickly and pushed the new match to start.  
"Well, I have a new respect for you, my friend," Ky stepped forward, sitting down next to her friend.  
"Say that tonight when you see my happy-fun muscle spasms," Gene laughed.  
"I don't see how you can be so happy-go-lucky when we have to battle for our lives," Ky said, drooping her shoulders.  
"Because I'm fighting for his. At least I have to keep telling myself that. Plus, this is my territory. I solve problems by beating things with hard and/or sharp objects. It's in my blood," Gene answered, flashing Ky a smile. She returned the favor.  
"Okay, well now that our after-school special moment is done, there's been something going through my head all day, and I think you can help me out."  
"Go for it," Gene replied.  
"Okay, for some reason, I could have sworn you said there were four werewolves in the initial attack on you, Lock, and the Regulars."  
"Yeah, there were four..."  
"Well, at Fabini's place, you said there were three, and I didn't think anything of it."  
"Technically, you said there were three, if I remember correctly. I just went with it..."  
"I thought you said there were four..."  
"Well, I took out two and ...Lock took out... one. And then Nick took out one. There were four."  
"Yeah, but Fabini only had claim for three, and when I called Jules earlier, she confirmed that the boys are saying there were four but the axe units can only confirm picking up, sedating, and storing three..."  
"So where's the fourth?"  
"I dunno," Ky finished, "But something certainly isn't right here and I am scared to ask what it might be."  
"I think it's pre-fight paranoia. You'll do fine."  
"Are you kidding? I have been practicing a little dark magic ever since I fought that Docket character two weeks ago. I'm game for these early matches, but we have no idea what may come."  
"Again with the paranoia. You'll do great. Now stretch out and get ready, cuz you're up next."  
The moisture in the outside air hits the outside cold just right to have a little smoke in one's breath; around Lock at the moment, you'd swear he's a chimney. His broken body ducks and weaves through the wooded area, tearing pieces of branch and pieces of skin along with it. His lungs feel on fire, as do his thighs and calves. The only thing keeping him going is the sound of the much faster animal behind him. Mickey's vampirism makes him much faster and stronger than Lock could ever hope to be, not to mention that Mickey happens to be in peak physical shape, giving him an ultimate advantage. Earlier, before passing out from pain, Mickey showed Lock something that no other vampire has ever shown him: hopelessness. Lock cannot beat Mickey. He is faster, stronger, and most important, sadistically insane. Lock's fear cripples him more than his open wounds and bruises; could this be the playfulness Mickey mentioned earlier that he likes about his prey? Is the monster just toying with him? Lock's concentration dropped and he side-swiped a tree. Lock twisted into a spin and continued the running like a tailback running to the end zone, except limping horrendously. Then it happened; just for a second, but it happened. Lock blacked out. It was only enough to make him hit the ground, and in his unconscious state, he didn't even feel his body slamming down. But with all the air gone, his body grounded, and all hope gone, Lock knew he was done. He crawled to the base of a tree and laid between it and another. He gathered leaves and dirt and covered his body, hoping to camouflage himself just long enough for Mickey to sprint past.  
Lock lay there in silence, halting his breath as much as he could to stop the flames in his lungs and make no more noise than he absolutely needed. He blacked out again, for a second, and came back to sight just in time to spot the gigantic vampire stop dead in his tracks. Mickey raised his nose into the air and took quick, distinguished breaths through his nostrils. "I know you're here, Locklear. You're trail stopped and you're scent of fear is stronger here than it has been at any point throughout the woods. Where are you?"  
Lock closed his eyes and spoke a silent prayer. That prayer, though breathless and desperate, was soon answered. Out of the woods stepped three men in nice, pressed suits. One held a black bar, sparking at the tip. They approached cautiously and tapped Mickey on the shoulder. The monstrous vampire turned suddenly, swiping one of their heads clean off their shoulders, turning the nicely dressed man to dust. The other one punched Mickey hard in the face, the third using the sparking black bar to electrocute him. Mickey fell to the ground hard; the vampire with the stun-tipped stick pulled a straight jacket out of the van they pulled up in and tugged and pulled it onto Mickey. "Man, boss aint gonna like that Arcadio's dusted," said the one.  
"Well, we got this lump, and that's all he really cared about," said the other.  
"You think he killed that Hunter guy?"  
"You kiddin me? You saw how busted up that cabin was. You saw the blood all over the place. I mean, come on... Even if the guy did make it and he's still alive, I bet he wishes he wasn't, right about now. Now we gotta hurry. Boss needs big boy here at the stadium. You know how to get to Northside High?" The two vampires carted Mickey off into the distance once they solidified their directions. Ten minutes later, once he felt that everything was clear, Lock inhaled. He stumbled to his feet... Too fast, it seemed, as the sudden rise moved Lock right into vomiting. Post- vomit, Lock began to stumble as far into the woods and, hopefully, out of them as he could. He made it to the end of the woods and through the backyard of a suburban home. He stumbled forward and saw a man, outside, letting his dog defecate on the front lawn. Lock stopped as the man noticed Lock, who appeared to be beat up beyond all human comprehension. Lock dropped to his knees on the cement, groaned at the pain, vomited again, and rolled over onto his back. "ex...cuse...me...sir? Could... I ...maybe...get a ...ride...from... you...?" The man looked at the bloodied, vomit-covered Lock as his dog began to lick Lock's forehead: "How bout I call you a cab?"  
At the Northside High School Stadium, Ky walks into the ring with a chorus of boos once again. She pops her knuckles and her neck and began channeling. Her concentration was broken when they announced her opponent; they never gave a name or a species, but they did mention it was from the Northern Ticket, which registered to Ky as "Yossarian's fighter." The door to the gate opened and two vampires carted in a cage, walked away, and pulled a string to open the cage. Out popped a werewolf, answering Ky's question as to where the fourth werewolf darted off to. The crowd gasped as there has never been a werewolf in the Bloodring Tournament before. Ky stood still, again whispering an incantation to give her an offensive. The werewolf howled as the two vampires pulled the string harder to pull the cage out and relock the gate. The wolf cut a dead sprint towards Ky and the crowd held their collective breaths as she never opted to move; as the werewolf leaped into the air at the witch, Ky stepped forward and punch, a bolt of energy moving along with the fist. The wolf flew backwards and crashed into the gate as Ky's eyes burned a bright glow. She stepped forward again and kicked it in the face, another burst of energy pulsing through the wolf. She snapped her fingers, exploding a bright light, blinding the beast, and erupted one last burst of energy through both hands into the beast's belly. The werewolf flew again into the cage and laid very still on the ring's floor as Ky shut her eyes and whispered yet another spell. She concentrated deeply, not noticing the wolf getting back to its feet and charging forward. The beast sprinted fast and flew towards her, aiming for her neck. Ky dropped to her knees, forcing the werewolf's momentum to carry it above her head, and she let loose her charged spell; The werewolf became stiff and brittle, eventually becoming pure stone. The stone monster hit the ring with a thud, flipped a few times, and remained still. The judge looked down at the ring, not knowing whether a stone werewolf meant that the match was over or not. After the standing ovation the crowd gave the witch, the judge awarded victory to her. The stupider of the two weapon-masters went ahead and dropped a sword into the ring, oblivious to the fact that the match was over before it began.  
Ky moved to sit back down next to Gene, wondering why his mouth was dropped. "You realize you just killed a poor human in there?" Gene asked.  
  
"I didn't kill it. That spell will wear off in a couple of days. No harm, no foul."  
"Well, then, let me say how magnificent that was. I had no idea how powerful you were."  
"That? That was nothing. I didn't even turn it to stone. I kinda covered it with stone. Transfiguration on a molecular level is way outta my magical league. Truth be told, after just covering it in stone, I can barely walk. We have to do something quick cuz I don't think im going to make another round unless I can catch some serious nappage," Ky took in a huge breath.  
"Well that ain't in the cards, children..." Fabini stepped forward, "... cuz there comes a time in every two-man team tournament where one man has to defeat the other. Ky, it's you versus Gene right now. Oh yeah, and remember, it's to the death." Fabini laughed and walked away. Large "security" demons grabbed them harshly and threw the two into the steel cage, locking them inside.  
"Okay, how the hell'd we get from kicking ass to killing one another?" Ky asked.  
"That bastard knew this was going to happen! I cant believe we walked right into this!"  
"Well, I suppose only one of us is getting out of here, then," Ky said, slyly. Gene's eyes widened as he took a few steps. She started whispering an incantation, charging an attack, so it seemed. Gene was taken aback by her impulsiveness. He swelled all sense of his oversized ego and competitive nature and tried to talk reason: "Ky, what are you doing?"  
"Saving Lock. Isn't that what we're here for?" She continued her whispers.  
"I don't think sacrificing ourselves is gonna get Lock back, sweetie."  
The loud voice of Yossarian boomed over the loudspeaker in warning: "Need I remind you both that not doing anything will result in immediate execution ..." Gene tightened up, "We can do this differently."  
"We are," she told him.  
They caught eyes and stared deep into one another. In that moment, he knew. The weapon-masters threw down a sword to him and an axe to her. The axe hit the ground but the sword was caught in mid-sprint by Gene, screaming his soul out. Ky's eyes grew wide as her head severed from her shoulders, courtesy of Gene's blade. Her bloodied head it the ground with a hard thud, her body falling limp and lifeless soon after. Gene fell to his knees as the screams of frustration from the crowd exploded into an outburst of cheers. The security walked in and carried the body off, one even coming in to help the victor to his feet. Gene was carried all the way back over to his seat where Fabini waited in the seat that Ky once sat in.  
"Wow. Just wow," the vampire began, "Admittedly, I was hoping the witch would pull it off. I mean, she handled Docket, and she absolutely destroyed that werewolf, and..."  
"Shut... Your goddamn... Mouth!" Gene screamed, diving at Fabini's neck in tears. The vampire's "security" moved in the way of the frustrated Hunter and wrestled him still in his chair. Gene hissed, "You knew! You knew that she and I would have to fight for this!"  
"And you knew that you may have to put your lives on the line to rescue your leader boy. You don't think he'd have done the same thing? I just didn't think you would have done it so harshly. I expected you guys to spar or stall a little, but damn! I had no clue you were just gonna... Poof! Off with her head, and all that. I mean, damn!"  
" You said we were both on your ticket. Fighting to the death against an adversary is one thing, but to kill one of my closest friends? That's some sick shit."  
"And you're one step closer to getting to Lock. Just rest up. You don't want the witches death to be for nothing, do you?" Fabini stood and walked away, smile from ear to ear as Gene put his face in his hands.  
A few minutes pass and the last two combatants line up to face in the Bloodring to see who faces Gene in the finals. One small-looking man walks into the ring, Latino in appearance. He removes his overcoat to reveal a rock-hard, slender build while the announcer introduces him as the vampire Ram. The second contender stomps in, much larger than the first, and is introduced without a name, simply being called a Greco demon. The large, purple beast sprinted straight for his foe as soon as the bell rang, thrusting the horn atop his head in the vampire's direction. Ram started bouncing around on his toes in a Muhammad Ali style, olay-ing the beast towards the cage. The Greco demon turned sharp and reversed direction, swinging his massive muscles at the vampire. Ram bounced from side to side, nailing punch after punch, softening up his opponent and flipping away from any offensive measures taken by the demon. The Greco nailed a solid back-hand into the vampire, darting his light frame several feet into the air, crashing him down into the far side of the ring. While they battled on, few could notice something being rolled towards the ring, covered in a white cloth. Two vampires walked the covered dolly into the now opened ring, not even sparking the attention of the fighters, but gaining the that of the commentators who pondered the contents of the delivery. Upon the outburst of the crowd, the two laboring vampires removed the white covering and undid the harness on the dolly. Ram landed punch after punch, bouncing back and forth while the Greco demon smiled at his enemy, proving that his meaningless shots were doing nothing; each thought that the extreme yelling was strictly do to their uncanny performance. Ram increased his strength in his punches, feeling like the demon couldn't possibly take much more, until a clawed hand burst through the Greco's chest, grasping tight to its still-beating, still-attached heart. Ram's face dropped, catching the eyesight of the Greco demon's face as it didn't know what was going on either. As blood began to stream out of the corner of the demon's mouth, another clawed hand grasped the top of the Greco's skull and jerked it 180 degrees backwards, dropping the instantly dead carcass. "IT'S THE WORLD CHAMPION, MICKEY!!!!!" the announcer exclaimed at the top of his lungs, not even close to being heard by the high-decibel chanting of the crowd. Ram's face became nearly bleach white when the tears came, knowing exactly what was about to happen; Mickey's powerful, clawed hand grasped around the slender vampire's neck. Mickey turned to face the box where the Board sat, and as they looked on, he raised his arm and Ram with it into the air, jerked his wrist, and tore the skull of the vampire, turning it into dust cascading through Mickey's fingers. Gene suddenly felt that Lock might be lost to him as the referee declared the winner of the match to be Mickey. Mickey stared down at Gene with not a mean look, but more of a sad look. The child-like monstrosity turned his eyes and walked towards the locker rooms where Fabini was exiting. He patted Mickey on the back and motioned him to rest up. Fabini then turned his eyes to Gene and smiled; Gene now knew all too well, and he knew even better when three vampires jumped him from behind and wrapped him in the straight jacket that they held Mickey in, carrying him into the ring and setting him down in the middle on his stomach. "Ladies and Gentlemen," Fabini spoke into the microphone, stepping into the ring and beside his captive, "Due to circumstance either beyond or because of my control, the championship match will be canceled and Mickey declared the third consecutive victor of the Bloodring Tournament. You see, the main prize was and still is the opportunity to tear the head off and/or eat the leader of Cleveland's very own Hunters. But the current leader of the Hunters, a man named Locklear, was killed late last night, and a participant in the finals, the human before you named Gene, is obviously a Hunter but, more importantly, he is the NEW leader of the Hunters. As being the prize and all, we cant have him fighting for himself now, can we?" A resounding cheer came from the crowd as an eerie smile crept across the vampire's face. "Well, just for you all, our main event will continue as planned, with this year's champion fighting to claim his prize, and his prize fighting to keep his neck. After this quick intermission, we'll return with tonight's main event!!!" Gene screamed a mouthful of expletives until Fabini reeled his foot back and kicked him in the jaw. Gene spit out two teeth and a mouthful of blood and leered at his foe. Fabini took to his knee and looked into Gene's eyes: "Only two? Maybe I should try again, cuz five more and I'll hit lucky number seven..." He spat into the Hunter's eye, stood, and walked off.  
Minutes later, Fabini made his way upstairs and sat down in his booth. The announcer started announcing Mickey and Gene as Fabini watched from his chair, right next to Yossarian and his fellow Board. "I will admit," Yossarian began, "you certainly made a case for yourself with this one. I had no idea you had this all set up."  
"No worries. In fact, I used you as the bait?"  
"What?" Yossarian became worried and confused.  
"No, I set it up to make them think that you were the one behind everything. He was here to kill you."  
The match began and Gene was released from his harness. Upon being freed, he was knocked clear across the ring by a swift Mickey uppercut.  
"You used me? Why the hell would you use me for this? What if he was successful?"  
"What can I say? You pissed me off at the last meeting, so I wasn't losing sleep over it. Plus, I knew there wasn't a chance for him to win. He was fighting a lost cause, would eventually have to kill his own teammate if they made it far enough together, plus I had Mickey coming in anyway, and that boy is unstoppable. I killed the leader and successfully destroyed the second and third in commands for the Hunters. In the time it's gonna take them to appoint a new leader and regain control of the troops, we'll have slaughtered them."  
"You still didn't have to use me. You're lucky this worked out, cuz had it not, I'd have come after you and you're little shit-mafia. How did you kill the Hunter leader though?"  
"Well, I knew Mickey needed some sustenance before the tournament if he was going to win, so I stored Lock in Mickey's cabin in the north- western woodland area. My boys told me that when they went there tonight, the place was trashed. A wall torn down, blood everywhere. They said it looked like a goddamn Picasso. And you should be happy I used you because maybe now Marquez will shut his mouth about me not giving you guys credit. I talked you up to them as if you were the most powerful man in Cleveland." Marquez shot Fabini a dirty look and a middle finger.  
"I am," Yossarian snapped, grabbing Fabini by the throat, "And don't you EVER think otherwise. I could waste you and the entire board at anytime, and you should remember that at all times. The only reason I don't drink Jacobs and call it a day is because we need an impartial judge in these rulings and a connection to the local government. Question me again, and I'll have your own army string you up on the capital building before dawn, understand?"  
After pummeling Gene senselessly, Mickey saw the weapon-masters throw a sword and a whip into the ring. Gene grabs the sword and slices shallow cuts into the beast's belly, finishing by impaling Mickey with the blade. Mickey winced and howled, grabbing Gene by the neck and chunking him hard against the steel caged walls. The vampire pulled the sword out, dropped it to the ground, and resumed repetitive fury punches into Gene's swollen face.  
"Regardless, you did well enough on this one," Yossarian said, releasing his hold on Fabini, "but don't ever pull a stunt like this without notifying me first, especially if I am the mark."  
"Sure thing," Fabini gasped out, "But everything went so close to everything I had planned that I didn't think I had any reason to worry anyways. The only thing I didn't expect was for him to flat out kill the witch like that. I thought he might kill her, but my main plan was for them to stall and then have the guards kill her and beat him into submission so we could serve him to Mickey in the final round. Still, though, he has no chance in beating Mickey, but I just like to insure things, and I thought he would be a little more weakened than he was going in."  
Yossarian laughed: "It was a good show though. The audience never saw it coming. Next year's profits outta be sky high,"  
"Hell, I sure didn't see it coming. That was belligerent! Lock must have sure meant something to him because he sure didn't care for her much."  
"Oh, he cares," said a voice coming through the doors behind the Board. The doors burst into wood chips, scattering across the box as Ky stepped forward, "Gene just works in mysterious ways." With that, Fabini was lifted up by an invisible force and thrown through the glass pane of the box, over the crowd, and completely through the top of the steel cage, landing on top of Mickey. She stepped up to the edge of the broken glass and yelled down as loud as her feminine voice could muster, "GENE! IT'S FABINI! HE KILLED LOCK!!!" She turned back to the remaining three vampires of the Board.  
"We saw you..." Brother began, "We saw you decapitated..."  
"You saw a glamour, idiot," Ky shot back, "A mighty good glamour if you don't mind me saying. Being 'dead' allowed me time to regain my concentration and energy enough to slaughter your guards and get up here."  
"Do you have enough left in you to stop me from draining you, you worthless bitc..."  
"Just enough..." Ky interrupted Yossarian, "...to go home. But count your blessings, cuz had he not run his mouth, sweetie, it'd be you down there." She snapped her fingers and conjured another sunlight bolt, flash- frying the vampires for an instant, more than enough time for her to jump from the glass window and conjure a gust of wind to softly carry her to the ground. She began sprinting to the exit when the exit sprang open itself. She stepped back and saw Lock and the unhurt Regulars following the Abbits and the Axe Units in towards the ring. She ran up to Lock, being assisted by Jules, and hugged him as tightly as she could, causing an eruption of screams from him.  
"Oh, oh, I'm so sorry. I just thought you were dead..." Ky cried.  
"The news of my death has been greatly exaggerated," Lock said, a quote that would have been funnier had it not been broken with coughs and gasps. "Are you leaving?"  
"Gene and I had this planned that I would fake my death, throw Yossarian into the ring, and call the Calvary. We didn't plan on the big boy in the ring, but the plan was to stay the same."  
"Yossarian?" Jules asked.  
"We thought some vamp named Yossarian was behind this, but it was Fabini. That's why he is in the ring right now with Gene, but he's not doing so good."  
"You any good right now?" Lock asked her.  
"Drained. I am physically and mentally exhausted, and I don't think I'll have the energy to float a feather for the next week."  
"You and Jules drop back outside. We have a few Regulars outside for back-up." Lock pulled his arm from behind Jules and limp-sprinted down to the ring. He ordered his crew to break open the door of the steel cage, and with a few swift whacks from the Abbit's axes, the lock fell to the ground and the invasion came on.  
Upstairs in the Board's box, the doors flew open to reveal Jacob Manning, fuming at the sight of three smoking and pissed off vampires. "You let a little witch... No, you let a little girl do this to you, and she wasn't a slayer?" Manning raised his cell phone to his ear and said, "Yeah, order a battalion to bring Fabini out of the ring and bring him to my hotel suite."  
Back down in the ring, Mickey held his former master by the neck as he watched patiently, the small group of regulars and axe units circling around him. Suddenly, Lock jumped up and on top of Mickey's back, choking him with the whip that the weapon-masters threw in. The monster dropped Fabini to the ground, who hopped up just in time to see Gene (who was slumped against the side of the cage now) point at him, ordering the Abbits to advance. Mickey reached up and grabbed Lock by his hair, slinging him like a fastball against the side of the cage, Lock's body going limp and falling right next to Gene.  
"How you feelin?" Gene asked.  
"Well, I haven't gone to a doctor yet, but offhand, I'd say three broken ribs, a punctured lung, maybe some internal bleeding. Oh and that throw there might have added a shoulder dislocation. You?" Lock replied, straightening himself against the cage next to Gene.  
"Same."  
"So you wanna tell the doctors backyard wrestling again?"  
"Nah. Remember? The doctors said that if we came in because of backyard wrestling again, they wouldn't admit us."  
"Really? Which hospital?"  
"Both of our two main ones. Plus, I used that excuse last night after the wolf attack."  
"Hmmm. I'll think of something. You wanna help out now?"  
"Nah. Your regulars are here, and they did pretty good on last night's drill. I say they can handle this one."  
"Yeah... Lets watch and criticize."  
"Well, Lock, you still have your dry wit."  
"And heartbeat, which are two things I thought I'd be lacking by now. Puts life into perspective..."  
"That's some solid optimism there Lock. Lets give it a break until we get out of the hospital..."  
"Okay... By the way, before you call it, I've got twenty that says we'll be in for a week."  
"Hell no... doctor's know us too well. I say four days for observation, tops!"  
"You're on..."  
"By the way, before I forget, I'm glad you're not dead, Lock."  
"Well, the night's still young. Plus, you swore that me and you would go toe to toe before we die. I'm not gonna miss that chance to one- up you..." Gene just laughed.  
Fabini ducked and weaved, landing a quick blow to every hunter he could on his way out the ring, until a sigh of relief came in the fashion of a parade of fangs sprinting their way to the ring. Two of them approached Fabini, and right as the now messy vampire was to voice his appreciation, the two grunt vamps simultaneously punched him in the jaw, and drug his unconscious body out of the ring and towards the exit opposite the Hunter brigade outside. As a war sparked from the entrance of the vampire army, Mickey grew tired of the senseless violence and walked out of the ring, throwing Nicholas up and against the wall and onto his face as well as punching the head clean off the shoulders of a passing vampire, dusting it on his way to the exit. He walked out the exit where Jules and Ky stood with John and a handful of regulars, who watched him cowardly as he growled and walked past them, a ragged looking bear in his hands. The battle in the ring was fierce but the axe units hadn't had a good kill in weeks, so they were looking forward to a dusty slaughter. Once the ring was cleared, a mist of dust spread across the ring, the units finally noticed that a stadium was filled with demons who were on their feet (or tentacles, or hands, sometimes being the case) giving the Hunters a standing ovation for turning what was supposed to be a one on one battle into an all-out battle royale. Nicholas got to his feet, smiled to the crowd, and began bowing. The rest of the units took from example and began bowing as well, giving an even greater round of applause. Lock and Gene, still nearly passed out against the cage, rolled their eyes when confetti dropped from the light fixtures on top and the crowd starting throwing roses into the ring ( red, white, pink, and an eerie amount of black roses). "Nicholas!!!" Lock yelled, "Can we please get to a hospital now?"  
A few hours later, Ky and Jules walk into the emergency ward and down the hallway where Lock and Gene were fortunate enough to get a room together. "What's up, you whiny babies?" Ky antagonized.  
"Hey now. You were the one in charge of what? Running away?" Lock asked.  
" If you'll excuse me, you guys took a beating and all, and I understand. But I got decapitated, and I'm fine," Ky continued.  
"That's girl power sweetie. That's why we have the painful part of childbirth. They couldn't handle it," Jules stopped after Lock grunted.  
"Yeah, you are two powerful, powerful women. By the way, would you mind floating that pillow over here, Ky?" Gene asked, smiling.  
"Shut up, Gene. I get a migraine every time I even think about floating or magic of any kind. What did y'all tell the doctors."  
"Frontyard wrestling..." Gene laughed.  
"We told them that an angry boyfriend and his friends beat our ass after we three-wayed his fiancée," Lock said.  
"It was my idea," Gene added, "but the nurses keep looking at us weird, especially me with my wedding band on."  
"Well, once again, we make the world a safer place and the world merely sees you as sexual miscreants. I'm so proud," Jules sighed with a smile on her face. "When are y'all getting out?"  
"We should be out by tomorrow," Lock frowned, "I mean, seriously, wouldn't you think that they would treat internal bruising with just as much care as internal bleeding? I'm feeling neglected with them just kicking us out tomorrow."  
"You wanna be here longer?" Ky asked.  
"Not really, but I really don't wanna give this greedy bastard here twenty bucks."  
"Hey now, we dig our own graves," Gene laughed.  
Ky's face fainted: "We're just lucky we didn't have to dig it this time. This one was close, especially since this wasn't planned at all. This is the first time that people have actually planned against us. We are Hunters for a reason: we hunt. This is the first time that we've been the prey."  
"She's right, guys," Jules said. "I know I havent been around for too long, but as long as I have been with y'all, we've faced some pretty rough things. But we've always been the instigators. People want us dead now. Isn't that just a little scary to you?"  
"Nothing has changed, people," Lock regained his powerful, stern leader voice. "We'll up the ante on training, but they want humans dead, period. Our goals may have gotten a bit more difficult to attain, by they still have not changed. Once we get a healthy group back together, we'll strengthen the training and go even harder. They can push as hard as they want, but as long as there have been Hunters, we've always pushed back much harder."  
"Well, you can push all you want Lock, but you two are like brothers to me and I love you both. Gene knew I wasn't dead, he just had to act that way, but we legitimately thought you were lost to us. Hell, Fabini thought it too, and he was the one trying to kill you. All I'm saying is that I care for the two of you a hell of a lot more than I care about our nightly war against dead fangs. When we started this, Lock, we cared about the cause and felt that we were all expendable. That's changed. We're close now. Last night, I had to pull of a sadistically real looking glamour, and I sweated it out all the way. That was nothing compared to how hard it was to leave Gene in that ring, regardless of his orders. This isn't just getting harder to kill the bad guys, Locklear, it's getting harder to say goodbye."  
A moment of silence passed. Gene felt a tear swell in his eye, but he sucked it back. Lock was stone-faced and short on words. Ky began to cry softly as she turned and slowly walked out of the hospital room. Jules stepped forwards and softly kissed Locks cut lip: "I love you guys. We'll be back tomorrow to pick y'all up around two. The nurse said they're serving Salisbury Steak and green jello. Green... that's your favorite, sweetie..." Jules patted Lock on his head, winked at Gene, and walked out rather somberly. Lock looked at Gene, and Gene looked back. Lock turned and closed his eyes.  
Across town at the Luxury Grande Hotel (who, ever since the Truluk demon incident, now caters to all "non-humans" as well), a duo of vampires throw Fabini into an unmarked suite. The room is desperately dark with the exception of a single lamp lighting an empty chair across from Jacob Manning and his three vampiric counterparts of the Board. "How overly dramatic..." Fabini said, not provoking the response he was hoping for. "Sit down, please, Fabini of the West." Manning retorted.  
"This is a formal meeting, then? I've never attended a formal meeting at gunpoint, so to speak..." Fabini declared, sitting down in the lighted chair.  
"Shut your worthless mouth. This is not formal, because if it was, you would be dust in this chair now," Manning started. Fabini was taken aback at Manning's tone, because he had never heard Jacob Manning be anything but completely cordial. Manning continued, "Your actions as have late have been suspect at best, Fabini of the West. You have not only revealed us to the new Hunter leader but you have also placed us and our financial dealings in crisis. You kidnapped Yossarian's werewolf the night before the tournament, placing it in danger because of your stupid rivalry with him. You outted one of your most lucrative businesses to the Hunters. You've placed us all in danger. I was able to excuse... to cast aside your cowardly submission to them after the Truluk attack, but this I cant forgive. We will meet at our normal time in a few weeks. There we will have a formal meeting and a formal expulsion vote. I think I can go ahead an predict the results. We will lay low for the next few weeks, so I would advise you to finish whatever business dealings you are involved with, and say goodbye to anyone you necessarily care about." Manning stood, as did Marquez, Brother, and Yossarian, and walked out of the suite.  
The door closed behind them. The room was empty, and Fabini was all alone. He took off his wrinkled coat and removed his broken suspenders and torn tie. He pulled a few spare threads out of his disheveled slacks, and gave up. He reached his hand above his head, and turned off the lamp. 


End file.
